If you were to ask a Jewish friend or work associate ‘Are you OK?’ and he or she felt able to open up to you, then don’t be surprised at receiving a negative response. We’re not OK.

The Australian Jewish community is in a state of shock and not just due to the horrific Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October. Over 1,400 murdered, over 5,000 injured and 238 taken into Gaza as hostages, including elderly women and children. This on a population basis is comparatively tenfold greater than 9/11 was to the US. But these numbers don’t even begin to tell the story. While Jews in Australia date back to the First Fleet, there was an influx after the second world war. On a per capita basis Australia had the highest proportion of Holocaust survivors after Israel. So, it cuts us deeply that the Jewish people have suffered the greatest day of racist murder since the Holocaust.

Nearly all Australian Jews have family and/or friends in Israel. I learnt about a week after the attack that one of my cousins, a young woman attending the Supernova music festival with her boyfriend, was amongst the 260 bodies found there. I have been unable to bring myself to inquire about details and just hope her end was quick. The reports of what Hamas terrorists did to many young women are sickening.

We have also been shocked and dismayed by local developments. There was a public display of support for and even celebrations of the atrocities with fireworks and cheering in the streets of Greenacre and Lakemba in Sydney, areas with a high Muslim population. At the Sydney Opera House where an anti-Israel pro-Hamas rally was held there was lighting of flares, burning of Israeli flags and chants of ‘F–k the Jews’ and ‘Gas the Jews’, the latter an obvious reference to how millions of Jews were murdered by the Nazis. This is not an expression of political opinion but rather a descent into gross ugly antisemitism. Other marches and rallies have chanted ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ which is code for the elimination of Israel. There have been public calls for an intifada which is a campaign of murderous terrorism against Jews.

The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) has received dozens of threats and received numerous reports including video and audio evidence of Jews in Melbourne and Sydney being threatened. Jewish students have advised of harassment on university campuses. The community is working closely with anti-terrorism authorities and police, reporting the incidents, and enhancing security. Some alleged perpetrators have been arrested in Sydney and Melbourne. Some families have expressed fear in sending children to Jewish schools. Some are hiding signs of Jewish identity.

There is another aspect which also needs to be called out as not OK, namely the Australia-Israel relationship. Unlike over a dozen Western leaders including those from the US, UK, France, Germany, and others, and despite planning northern hemisphere travel, PM Anthony Albanese declined the opportunity to include a solidarity visit to Israel. Up until this week Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu did not accept a telephone call from his Australian counterpart. Despite the dismissive words of politicians and diplomats publicly, this is a terrible signal concerning the relationship. Why has this occurred?

The Australian Labor government has in practice been so negative to Israel in a whole series of policy shifts, it may well be judged as the most anti-Israel since the modern state of Israel was recognised in 1948. These decisions range from withdrawing the limited recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to changing the official terminology in diplomacy now referring to occupied rather than disputed territories to changing our UN voting pattern and even worse doubling foreign aid in the federal budget to ‘Palestinian territories’ from $35 to $70 million per year.

Make no mistake, Australian policy has played a part in emboldening the terrorists and their supporters in the Middle East and locally. The doubling of funding to UNRWA (the UN agency which runs schools in Gaza and supports Hamas) from $10 to $20 million is particularly obnoxious. UNRWA teaches hatred and incites terror. In August when Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced the change in Australia’s diplomatic terminology, in a first for an Australian minister she was featured on a poster by Quds News Network, the propaganda arm of Hamas. How does that look now?

Even after the barbaric Hamas torture, slaughter and capture of Jewish civilians, there have been unhelpful signals from our government. The AJA was gobsmacked by and condemned the outrageous insensitive message by Foreign Minister Wong on 7 October only hours after the Hamas attack calling for ‘restraint’. With Israel under unrestrained terrorist attack of the most barbaric type, this was not a time to show any restraint.

In response to the now proven false allegation that Israel bombed al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, Prime Minister Albanese stated at a media conference, ‘We condemn any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.’ Even after evidence proves it was not an attack but a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket which landed in the car park not the hospital building, our PM did not correct the record.

Beyond the budget allocations Foreign Minister Penny Wong has made two announcements since the atrocities of 7 October of $10 million and $15 million for Gaza supposedly for humanitarian aid. No matter how well-intentioned, this reflects stunning naivety. It is Hamas which controls all distribution in Gaza and even if our aid arrives as food, water, medicine, etc, if Hamas wants to take it for its jihadists, it is taken. Australia may be replenishing Hamas.

Australian Labor government policy has poured petrol on the flames of jihad and antisemitism. AJA calls on our government to stand with our traditional ally Israel. But if you can’t actively do that at least stop the Hamas-friendly policies, stop doing harm and immediately cease all funding to ‘Palestinian Territories’. The European Commission, Austria and even Germany, which can spot Nazi-like behaviour, have all done so.